Tag: MA

Passing through the Merrimack Valley, April 30, 2023

As is my tradition, I spent the last weekend of April in southern New Hampshire, visiting my sister and attending the spring hamfest known as NEARfest. Every April and October I bunk work to attend the flea market on its first day, the Friday of the weekend, and then return on Saturday to make it a two day affair.

I had a glorious time on Friday and the weather was perfect and this year and I was fortunate to sell just about all of the old gear and abandoned projects that were taking up space in my basement.

So instead of returning to the flea market on Saturday where I’d no doubt run the risk of succumbing to the temptation of spending my Friday windfall on new radios that would most likely sit in in the basement untouched for months on end, I decided to take a leisurely drive home on Saturday morning and make a few stops along the way in and around my hometown of Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Here are some photos from my visit to the Merrimack Valley. Can you go home again? I think so.

Smokestacks, Lawrence, Massachusetts
La Cibaena Bakery, Lawrence, Massachusetts

Bandstand, South Lawrence Common

OLYMPUS DIGITAL PEN EP-3
edited with iPhone Hipstamatic app.

I passed through my hometown of Lawrence, Massachusetts this past Sunday afternoon, returning home to Connecticut after a weekend visit with family and friends at Hampton Beach.

I strolled through the O’Connell South Common which, located two blocks down the street from the Market Street three-decker I grew up in, held many childhood memories such as feeding the squirrels with my grandfather, smoking Lark cigarettes filched from my grandmother’s pack with my friend Georgie under the slide, and sledding down the hill on chilly winter days with my sister and dad. So many memories.

I remember on a long ago Saturday afternoon, using the bathroom under the bandstand where I encountered a custodian watching wrestling (or perhaps it was candlepin bowling?) on a B&W TV in his small office in the Men’s Room. He seemed quite content passing the time in his subterranean porcelain fiefdom.

Can you ever go home again? I think if we’ve held on tight to the small and seemingly insignificant memories, perhaps we never left?

©2023 JMSurprenant